Throughout our lives we have been so blessed with friendships and ministry opportunities.
This blog is meant to share what God has been doing in, for and through us.
It is also used as a resource page for teaching and preaching Dave has had the opportunity to do.
We do this for the purpose of GLORIFYING GOD and HELPING OTHERS GLORIFY GOD.
Reading Lead by Paul Tripp has been a blessing because I took a different approach to reading this book. I slowly went through the book. This helped me think about what each chapter was about and what I needed to learn and/or remember about each topic.
Part of this reflection time included writing a general, leadership prayer for each chapter. I put the links for each prayer below.
Another part of this reflection time was a more personal prayer.
The following two quotes helped me think about the theme of this book.
"Because we are not sovereign over the situation in which we minister, because we have no power to change people's heart, because we are often in the way of instead of being part of what God is doing, because we cannot predict the future, we have no ability on our own to achieve ministry growth or success."
"Ministry success is a testament to who God is and what he is willing to do through us by grace."
Ministry leaders need to have a ministry team helping one another through, not just this specifically rough time, but even so times of blessing AND challenge. I would recommend church and ministry leaders read this book. It will be a blessing and a challenge.
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 12 - Presence - Paul Tripp's Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church
Lord, God, the one who has everlasting dominion and does what he wants,
Don't let me forget your presence, Lord. Fill the eyes of my heart and help me see the glory and presence of the one who created all of creation and controls it to this day. Every good thing is the work of hands greater than your own, including the ministry you give me.
May I find my confidence in you and not in myself and never quit reminding myself of your presence and glory. I don't want to quit doing what I'm doing out of allegiance to you, Lord, and love for others and do it for me. Lord, don't allow me to take too much credit for the results of your ministry. Ministry success is a testament to who you are, God.
Thank you so much for your rescuing mercy especially when it all seems to be crashing down, when sin is exposed or where ministry leadership is taken away.
God, your presence is my hope, my confidence, my refuge, my courage,
Your presence calls me to humility and dependency.
Your presence is a constant motivation to continue.
Amen!
Bad things happen to a ministry leader and to a leadership community when ministry leadership works so commands focus that they begin to functionally forget the presence of the Lord. (211)
Leading a ministry without the presence of the Lord filling the eyes of your heart is dangerous for any leader or leadership community. If it's possible to look at creation and not see the glory and presence of the one who created it all and controls it to this day then it is also possible to look at your ministry and forget that every good thing is the work of hands greater than your own. (212)
Every human being is glory-oriented because that orientation is meant to drive us to God. (214)
For ministry leaders, success is more spiritually dangerous than failure, much power rather than no power tempts us to dominate, acclaim is more of a potential spiritual pitfall than rejection, and seasoned experience carries with it more temptation than the unknowns of starting out. (215)
There is too much confidence in self and self-importance among us. (215)
We must never quit reminding ourselves of God's presence and glory lest we quit doing what we're doing out of allegiance to him and love for others and do it for ourselves. (216)
We ministry leaders are given way too much credit for the results of our ministry, and we should all resist it. People tend to think that we have way more power and wisdom than we actually have. Ministry success is a testament to who God is and what he is willing to do through us by grace. (216)
God will not surrender his glory to another. He is not willing that we take credit for what he alone can do. (217)
Those moments when it all comes crashing down, when sin is exposed or where ministry leadership is taken away, are not judgment but rescuing mercy. (217)
This glory-of-God culture is protection against self-glory and will keep us from taking credit for ministry success we could never produce on our own. (217)
The men of Israel are afraid not just because Goliath is big and powerful, but because they are forgetful. (218)
As a ministry leader, God's presence is your hope, God's presence is your confidence, God's presence is your refuge, God's presence is your courage, God's presence calls you to humility and dependency, and God's presence is your constant motivation to continue. (221)
Ministry leadership, at hit core, is about a community of leaders practicing together the presence of the Lord. (221)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 11 - Longevity - Paul Tripp's Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church
Lord God,
Remind me that there is no such thing as an individual ministry. Any ministry I am a part of is a community project. I need the ministry of others in order to grow as a leader. Bring people into my life and ministry that will stand in the way when I am going to make a bad choice.
Personally, grow in me a holy discontentment. Never let me think that I am as mature as I need to be.
In community, help me be an agent of comfort you and to be comforted by others.
While we haven't been in places for a long time, I pray that I, and my family, would be growing in maturity. God, use me, wherever I am, to produce lasting gospel fruit. I don't merely want to endure a ministry.
Your mercy, God, is the one thing that stands as the reason for any ministry. May your mercy and my weakness cause me to run to God's grace for moment-by-moment help. I want to be humbled by the Gospel, made courageous by the gospel, and infused with sturdy hope by the gospel.
God, thank you for giving me what I need in order to be what I'm supposed to be and to do w and to do what I am supposed to do right now, right now.
Amen!
This was a particularly challenging chapter to read and prayer to write, especially because I was at my last ministry for only one year. I would very much appreciate your prayers during this time of ministry searching and personal examination. Thanks!
Gospel seeds need time to mature and grow, and the key to longevity is spiritual maturity because weeding and watering the garden that is the church is such hard work. (194)
Every leadership community needs to understand that there is no such thing as individual ministry. Every leader's ministry is a community project. Every leader needs the ministry of other leaders in order to grow to the kind of maturity that will allow him to lead well over the long term and end well. Every leader needs leaders who will stand in his way when he is about to choose the wrong way. (194)
Longevity is the fruit of spiritual maturity is the result of longevity, and both are the fruit of the gospel community. (194)
Every ministry leadership community should value and plan for longevity, which means every ministry leadership community must value and plan for spiritual maturity. (196)
No leader should be considered as mature as he or she needs to be. (196)
God makes his invisible comfort visible through agents of comfort he sends where comfort is needed. Gospel community is intended by God to be incarnational, where we are to one another the look on God's face, the touch of his hands, his words, and his presence. (197)
Too many leaders fail to experience the joyful fruitfulness of ministry longevity. And let me say here that ministry longevity is not just about hanging in there for a long time but about growing in maturity and because there is growth in maturity, there is an increasing harvest of long-term fruit. It's more than endurance; it's endurance that produces lasting gospel fruit. (197)
There would be no kingdom of God, no church of Jesus Christ, no people of God, and no population in the new heavens and the new earth if it were not for the infinite patience of the Lord. (199)
Redemption is longevity work. (199)
Strategizing for ministry longevity means responding with patient grace in the face of a leader's spiritual immaturity, seeking to be part of God's work of rescue and transformation. (200)
Paul says that there is only one thing that stands as the reason he has this ministry: God's mercy. (201)
Weakness in a ministry leader is not in the way of a vibrant ministry life but is a vital ingredient of it if that weakness causes him to run to God's grace for moment-by-moment help and to be open to the ministry of others. (202)
There is no fear of man or the circumstances that would cause him to compromise the confrontation, comfort, or call of the gospel in any way. (202)
Spiritual maturity in the life and ministry of a ministry leader is about being humbled by the gospel, made courageous by the gospel, and infused with sturdy hope by the gospel. (203).
In order to lead, we need to be rescued daily from ourselves. As leaders, we are not as humble or as courageous or as hopeful as we could be by grace. (203)
You cannot grieve what you do not see, you cannot confess what you haven't grieved, and you can't repent of what you haven't confessed. (204)
In a spiritually healthy leadership community, confession isn't unusual and awkward but a regular part of its culture of grace. (205)
If confession is the result of eys that now see and a heart that is grieved, it will be followed by a desire for rescuing and transforming grace. (205)
God has already given every one of us everything we need to be what we're supposed to be and to do what we're supposed to do right here, right now. (206)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 10 - Restoration - of Pau Tripp's Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord, the One who restores us,
Thank you for the restoration work you have done, are doing, and
will continue to do in my life.
I pray that no matter the circumstances, my heart would be
turned to you because that is what is right.
As I think about your forgiving, restoring, and delivering grace, I am utterly
amazed. Help me and the leadership communities
I am part of to always trust in your restorative grace.
Help me not make assumptions about the leaders I work with. I don’t want to make assumptions about the
spiritual conditions of leaders and at the same time, I don’t want to be passive.
Help me represent a restorative heart to
my fellow leaders and the church.
I want to be used, when needed, as an agent of God’s restoring
mercy. God help me to better understand
that restoration is about glorifying you not getting back to a specific job or
ministry position.
I pray that my confessional theology and functional
theology would be the same. Just because
I am doing well in my assigned ministry does not mean I am spiritually where
God wants me to be.
quotes
Even if sin necessitates a leader's removal from his position and ministry duties, turning toward him with grace is always right. (179)
We sinners don't just need forgiving grace; we need restoring grace. And we don't just need restoring grace; we need delivering grace. (179)
It is beautiful to see the power of restorative grace up close and personal, and it is sad to see that so many leadership communities don't actually trust its power when a key leader's sin has been revealed by the divine restorer. (179)
Every church or ministry leadership community must be a restorative community if it's going to have long-term spiritual health and ministry effectiveness. (180)
If it is true that every leader is in the middle of the ongoing work of God's sanctifying grace, then it is also true that there is still the presence of remaining sin in every leader's heart. (180)
Ministry effectiveness is not to be confused with the cleanness of the heart. (181)
Assumptions that a leadership community makes about the spiritual condition of its leaders, assumptions that allow the community to passive rather than pastoral, result in a shocked and unprepared community when a fellow leader falls in some way and needs restorative care. (181)
Every leadership community has moments when they are called to be agents of God's restoring mercy. (181)
Every leadership community should commit to representing, in their leadership culture and relationships, the restorative heart of the Redeemer. (183)
If we think it's possible to escape God's presence, we have gone spiritually insane! (184)
By cultural identity, he is a God-fearer, but in terms of his response to God's call, he doesn't act like someone who fears the Lord. In this way, his words confront us with the difference that may exist in a leader between his confessional theology and his functional theology. (185)
Restoration is much deeper and more foundational than doing what is necessary to quickly get a leader back into his ministry position. (186)
Restoration that isn't heart deep sets up that leader and his community for further problems because the core of the problem, the leader's heart, has not been restored to where God designed it to be. (187)
We should not assume that because a leader is still doing his assigned ministry duties that he is spiritually where God wants him to be. (188)
Restoration never minimizes the damaging reality of sin, but while it takes sin seriously, it also believes in the power of restorative grace. It believes in God's power to turn a heart and rebuild a life. (189)
No leader is impervious to temptations, because no leader is sin-free and sanctification-finished. Not one. (189)
So every leadership community needs to be committed to, and prepared for, those said and difficult moments when the Savior calls them to a restorative agenda. (190)
We cannot be so protective of the institution, the church, that we discard leaders and members of the church as if they're broken and no-longer-needed commodities. (190)
A prayer written using quotes from chapter 9 - Identity -
of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
God, full of grace, the one who created us with purpose and identity,
Don't allow my pride to keep me from running to the graces of your gospel
and the help and protection of the gospel community around me.
Remind me of who I am in you and because of you.
Help me always keep you in the center and
to not look horizontally for what I am designed to find vertically.
I pray that the fruit of my identity in Christ would not tempt me to look elsewhere for identity.
I pray that I would be motivated by faith not fear.
God, you change people. I am not the change agent in this world.
I am an instrument in the redeemer's hands.
Amen
If "pride in position" controlled my heart, I would not run to the graces of the gospel or the help and protection of the gospel community around me. (162)
Rooting my identity in ministry leadership would cause me to hide important details about myself, control conversations, compete for position, deny weaknesses while projecting strength, and a host of other spiritual dangers. (162)
None of us, from the most influential leader down to the least influential follower, responds to life-based n the pure facts of our existence. Rather, all our responses are the result of how we have interpreted those facts. (163)
The disobedience of Adam and Eve was profoundly more than the eating of forbidden food. It was a rejection of their identity as creatures of the Most High God and buying into an identity that did not have God at the center. And with that said rejection, human identity became not only a morass of confusion but the battleground for spiritual war. (164)
Since the fall, people look horizontally for what they were designed to find vertically. They ask people, places, and things to do for them what the only identity in the Lord can do. (164)
It is incredibly ironic that the fruit of a leader's identity in Christ is what tempts him to look elsewhere for identity. (167)
Ministry leadership really is a miserable, spiritually dangerous, and leader-destroying place to look for identity.(167)
Nothing good is produced in a leader who has along the way exchanged identity in Christ for some form of identity in ministry. (167)
There are too many leaders among us who do too many things out of fear, not faith. (169)
No leader is a change agent; rather, every ministry leader is a toolbox of the one who alone holds the power of change in his hands. (170)
A leader whose identity and security is in the Lord is liberated from fear, even in the face of bad news." (172)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 8 - Candor - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord, God, Three in One, the one who said it was not good that Adam was alone,
Thank you for making us relational beings. You want me to be comforted, warned, encouraged, rebuked, and instructed by others. May my willingness to confess and share struggles not only be a help to me but also an encouragement to others.
God, make me aware of my own heart struggles and areas of weakness.
I pray that pride of personal maturity, the pursuit for the respect of others, functional Gospel doubt, ability to minimize sin, and identity in ministry will not silence me.
Help me and those I lead with to lead and live knowing the dark, despicable, destructive, and dishonoring nature of sin. May we never attempt to rationalize sin and make it look o.k.
I pray that the fear of a lost leadership position will never be great than the fear of giving sin room to do its evil work in my life.
God, I want my life and my ministry to be about you and your glory!!!
Amen!
An isolated, independent, separated, and self-hiding Christian life is alien to the Christianity of the New Testament. (148)
Biblical Christianity is thoroughly and foundational relational. (148)
No one is so spiritually mature that he is free from a need for the comfort, warnings, encouragement, rebuke, instruction, and insight of others. (148)
A spiritually healthy leadership community is spiritually healthy when it is a safe place for struggling leaders to speak with candor and hope. (149)
"The ministry leaders I regularly meet with often share a personal experience, but they leave out how they themselves factor into it. They talk about what happened and what other people did and said, but they give little sense of their own heart struggle as it was all going on. (150)
It is quite possible to be committed to leading robust gospel ministries and yet be denying the same gospel in your leadership community. (152)
A gospel-shaped leadership community will be a confessional community, where leader honesty is not only a constant protection but encourages a deeper and deeper dependency on God. (152)
It is in the soil of the devastation and humiliation of confession that servant leaders grow. (153)
What silences us? 1. Pride of personal maturity 2. Ability to minimize sin 3. Must have the respect of others 4. Identity in ministry 5. Functional Gospel doubt
Every leadership community needs to pray together for grace to see sin as dark, despicable, destructive, and dishonoring to God as it actually is. Every leadership community needs to regularly cry out for help, admitting that sin doesn't always look sinful. (155)
If I have [the leadership community] in the appropriate place in my heart, I will see them as God-given tools of grace and be free to be candid with them about my real issues of heart and life. (155)
The Gospel promises us that the good things God calls us to will produce good in our lives, even if that good looks different from what we hoped for. (157)
Do we fear the loss of leadership position more than we fear giving sin room to do its evil work in our hearts and lives? (157)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 7 - Servants - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord,
Remind me that joy does not come from control or acclaim or a position. It is found in you.
I know that in so many ways, in my thoughts, actions, and attitudes, my default idol is the idol of self, and because of this I desire control, acclaim, and position and I crave what I find comfortable, enjoyable, and exciting. Help me fight this.
Remind me that my struggle of selfishness is the focus not only of my rescue and forgiveness as it relates to my justification but also the transforming work of my sanctification.
God, you are sovereign - You are in control of where I am as it relates to life and ministry. You are in control of the things I have been tasked with here. Complaints that I have about my circumstances are against you and your plan. My grumbling is against the one who is Lord over my circumstances.
In thinking about service to one another, God, I am thankful for the church, your church. I am thankful for the churches we have been a part of. I am thankful for Trinity, our current church, and I am thankful for our future church family.
As I prayerfully think about the church being a chosen gathering of unfinished people grappling with selfishness of sin and the seduction of temptation, I thank you for the fact that you have blessed us with a great church family. I pray that we would be used to yank others out of self-sufficiency and self-obsession and that others would do the same for us.
Thank you for calling me to deny myself even though it is impossible to do by myself. God, you are freeing me from my bondage to sin and self.
I pray that my focus would be on you and not myself.
Amen!
The joy of a true servant is not control; the joy of a true servant is not acclaim; the joy of a true servant is not comfort or ease; and of course, the joy of a true servant is not position. What gives a servant joy in being a servant is service. (129)
Why do we love to be known as servants while not always loving the call to serve? (129)
I am required to face the fact that, like every other sinner, my default idol is the idol of self, and because it is, my default craving is for what I find comfortable, enjoyable, and exciting. (130)
It takes almighty power to free us from the depth of our self-allegiance. (130)
It is also vital for every leader to remember that the struggle of selfishness is the focus not only of the rescue and forgiveness of our justification but also of the transforming work of our sanctification. (130)
True leaders don't think that the ministry they have been called to lead and those they have been called to lead belong to them. A true leader knows that people are not the objects of his power control but the focus of his sacrifice and service. (132)
It's so hard for us to willingly patiently, joyfully, lovingly, and sacrificially serve. (135)
God is sovereign, and he writes your story, and because he does, he is in control of where you have been positioned in ministry and all the things you are tasked with there. Your complaint about the schedule is never just about the schedule, your complaint about exhaustion is never just about how tired you are, and your complaint that you never seem to get the break you think you need is never just about time. All horizontal complaints have a vertical component. (135)
Grumbling about horizontal difficulty is at once a complaint against the one who lords over those difficulties. (136)
What is the church? It's a chosen gathering of unfinished people, still grappling with the selfishness of sin and the seduction of temptation, living in a fallen world, where there is deception and dysfunction all around. (136)
The church is intended to be messy and chaotic because the mess is intended to yank us out of self-sufficiency and self-obsession to become people who really do love God and our neighbors. (136).
We want greater power and control that is, greater sovereignty over our ministry lives than a servant will ever have. (137)
Self-focused leadership results in demotivating discontentment, desire for control, and a loss of joy - all of which is an indicator of a fundamental misunderstanding of the position and lifestyle to which you have been called. (137)
The call to a life of joyful servitude and willing suffering is itself a grace. In calling me to deny myself, God is freeing me from my bondage to me. Self-focus never leads to happiness, it never produces contentment, and it never results in a satisfied heart. The more a leader has himself in focus, the more he thinks about how ministry inconveniences him, and the less he will experience true joy and lasting contentment. (140)
The pathway to freedom is servanthood, the pathway to greatness is slavery, and the pathway to deep and lasting joy - joy that people and circumstances cannot take away - is denying yourself. (141)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 6 - War - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord, the victorious one,
Remind me that I need to battle for theological faithfulness, gospel purity, and methodological integrity but even more than that I need to remember that Gospel ministry is a war for leaders' hearts.
Help me and the leadership community I am part of to be always watchful and alert to the spiritual dangers of life in a fallen world and life as a church or ministry leader. Don't allow pride in ministry achievements to put me in danger.
Thank you for suffering for our victory and for caring more about the health, safety, and success of his church than we ever will.
Help me not be satisfied with a certain level of spiritual growth in the people you have brought into my life. I pray that I, and those I lead to long for more people to come into the kingdom.
God, I pray that you would help me stand against a leader whom we have regularly stood with when needed to protect the gospel, the church, and the leader. I also pray you would bring people into my life who would be willing to do the same.
Finally, I pray that my desire for good things will not morph to become dangerous things because they have become ruling things.
Amen.
"Leadership in the church of Jesus Christ is not just a battle for theological faithfulness, gospel purity, and methodological integrity; it is also a war for the heart of every leader." (116)
A spiritually healthy leadership community is always watchful and alert to the spiritual dangers of life in a fallen world and life as a church or ministry leader." (122)
"Pride in ministry achievements puts you in battle danger." (123)
"Any failure in a leader to live in a way that is humble and alert leads that leader nowhere good." (123)
"We have been called to lead by a victorious Savior, who suffered for our victory and who cares more about the health, safety, and success of his church than we ever will." (123)
"Gospel dissatisfaction - not satisfied with a certain level of spiritual growth in the people God has called us to lead, longing for more people to come into the kingdom, and working to see more churches planted." (124)
"There are moments when, because of what we have heard and learned, we need to lovingly stand against a leader whom we have regularly stood with. With the goal of protection, we must stand in his way, refusing to endorse or support something that is either spiritually dangerous or evidence that the enemy has already won a victory in this leader's heart." (125)
"Spiritual warfare, if it's as normal as the Bible presents it, must always be on our ministry agenda." (125)
"Desires for good things morph to become dangerous things because they have become ruling things." (126)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 5 - Character - of Paul Tripp's Lead
Lord God, may what is important to you be important to me. Help us find a ministry that is functioning with you as the most important goal and audience. We are very thankful to be at Trinity, where this is the case and help us in making decisions about the future.
I pray the church you would have us at would be shaped by Gospel values not merely the gifts of its leaders or their strategic plans but by you.
Help me and your church regularly ask "Is what's important to God still important to us?" May we not only ask the question but also take the time to honestly evaluate life and ministry with this question and the Bible.
God make me into a leader who is more concerned with godly character rather than results production. God, my hope is not in me getting it right but in you, who never forsakes your sanctifying work.
Amen.
Quotes from Chapter 5
"The values of a leadership community shape the way the community thinks about and approaches its work, and, more importantly, the way each member views and relates to all the other members." (101)
"A leadership community is spiritually safe and prepared for a long term and productive life of ministry only when what is important to God is not just theologically important to them but also functionally important." (102)
"The life and work of a leadership community is shaped not just by the gifts of its leaders, their vast experience, the force of their public personalities, entrepreneurial skill, or vision and strategic planning, but most importantly by their values." (101)
"It is important for a ministry leadership community to keep asking the question, "Is what's important to God still important to us?" (101)
"There are times when we are more attracted to big personality, powerful communicating, and result-producing leaders than to persons of beautiful character." (104)
"No matter your ministry, your leadership position, the daily tasks that have been assigned to you, or you, or the leaders who stand and work with you, it is this gospel that must be in your mind and fill your heart moment by moment as you do your work." (107)
"Leaders can't think of themselves first as ambassadors of the church or ministry they lead or as ambassadors of a particular strategic plan or as ambassadors of personal ministry career goals. They must lead with the knowledge that the thing God values most in a leader is that he or she represents him well. In every task, in every relationship, in public or in private, we are called to an ambassadorial mentality, to ambassadorial values, and to ambassadorial functioning." (107)
"All our attitudes and actions must be measured by our call to faithfully represent the character of the one who sent us." (108)
"Every leadership community needs to recognize that ministry is an intersection of many competing and conflicting motivations." (109)
"A leader whose heart has been captured by other things doesn't forsake ministry to pursue those other things; he uses ministry position, power, authority, and trust to get those things." (110)
"The reason we are often way too passive in the face of troubling evidence in the attitudes and actions of a leader is that way too often, performance trumps character." (111)
"No leader should be permitted to drive away fellow leaders who have godly concerns." (112)
"Our hope is not that we will always get it right but that God will never forsake his sanctifying work." (113)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 4 - Balance - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord, God, the one who alone is worthy of our worship,
Help me find important what you find important. Help me trust you for what you know I need, not what I think I need. May my treasure be what you treasure, God.
Lord, help me not exchange your glory for the glory of the things you created. I don't want the good things you have given to become the rulings things. I pray that I would not work longer, try harder, control more, delegate less, and take more credit, in my attempts to get from ministry what it is not meant to provide
May the leadership communities I am and will be part of always consider and regularly discuss the question of balance in the lives of its leaders. I pray these communities would have God in his rightful place and people and things are in their appropriate places in our thoughts, desires, and actions. Help us remember the appropriate place of authority, money, power, position, gifts, marriage, children, theological insight, and biblical literacy.
God, thank you that Jesus' first act of restoration was to restore our relationship with God. Because of this great truth help me and the leadership communities I am part of to put everything in its right place.
Amen.
"What is balance? It is everything in its right place doing what it was meant to do." (87)
"What is important to God isn't always important to us. What God knows is needful for us isn't always needful to us. What God says we should treasure, at street level we don't always treasure." (88)
"Idolatry is when the glory of God the Creator is exchanged for the glory of the created thing." (89)
"In ministry good things become ruling things." (89)
Leaders are tempted to look to ministry to provide for them what it was never intended to provide. Leadership position, power, respect, acclaim, and success begin to take on more weight in our hearts than they should ever take." (90)
"In the fear of not getting things we think we need, we work longer, try harder, control more, delegate less, and take more credit. Good godly habits get left behind in our ministry drivenness. Necessary relationships are not properly maintained. Private worship becomes perfunctory, if not abandoned altogether." (90)
"A spiritually healthy leadership community should be always considering and regularly discussing the question of balance in the lives of its leaders." (91)
"It is only when God is in his rightful place in my heart that people and things are in their appropriate place in my thoughts, desires, and actions." (95)
We've seen shocking materialism; abuse of authority; misuse of God's money; love of power and position; the use of gifts, power, and position to seduce and misuse others; the hiding of wrongs; the building of cults of personality; broken marriages; angry children; beaten-down fellow leaders; unwillingness to submit to counsel, confrontation, and loving discipline; using theological insight and biblical literacy to defend what should not be defended; etc." (95)
"[Jesus] first act of restoration was to restore us to God, because it is only when God has his rightful weight in our hearts that everything else is appropriately weighted." (98)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 3 - Limits - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord, God, our creator,
You have created me with limits. Help me understand that I cannot do more than I can realistically and healthily do.
God, you don't send us out on our own. Where you send us, you also go. I am thankful for this fact. Help me live in this truth.
As I prayerfully think about the idea of limits and the ministry you have for us, I want the ministry community you have for us to know not to idolize domineering leaders who fail to recognize the limits of their gifts, who disrespect the God-given gifts of fellow leaders, and who have been allowed to think that they are smart, gifted and strong in ways they are not
Lord, I don't want to be surrounded by ministry clones. Help me surround myself with leaders who have gifts that I do not have and strengths I don't have.
Lord, help me not fall into the trap of pride and harsh criticism. I want to develop a leadership community that recognizes God-given gifts and works to establish a ministry culture of respectful appreciation and joyful cooperation.
Lord, I must say no to the passions of my body so that I can do what you have called me to do.
Search my heart, help me recognize, understand, and confess the idols of my heart that interfere with the discipline you have called me to and your grace makes possible.
God, I know there are areas I need to grow in, especially during this time of ministry searching.
Where we are serving, I pray the leaders would see their ongoing need for confrontation, gospel comfort, and love and encouragement to deal with the old self.
Amen!
"In ministry, it is tempting to try to do more than you can realistically and healthily do." (72)
"We do not have to fear our limits because God doesn't send us out on our own; where he sends us, he goes to." (73)
"Every leader needs to rely on the contributions of other leaders who are smart in ways that he isn't." (74)
"Ministry must always be done in humble, respectful, and submissive community because the gift God has given us come to us with built-in limits." (74)
"I would be silly and proud to dominate every discussion and make every decision and assign every task." (74)
"One of the reasons the ministry leadership community is broken is that we have idolized domineering leaders who fail to recognize the limits of their gifts, who disrespect the God-given gifts of fellow leaders, and who have been allowed to think that they are smart, gifted, and strong in ways they are not." (74)
"Pride in one's own giftedness coupled with devaluing the gifts of others is a recipe for leadership disaster." (75)
"Humble leaders surround themselves not with ministry clones but with leaders who have gifts that they do not and are therefore smart in ways they are not and strong in areas they are weak." (75)
"Being given a gift tells me about me in that I am not self-sufficient but rather needy and dependent. It tells me I have no ability to do God's work without God's gifts." (75)
"My giftedness doesn't make me worthy of human deference, affirmation, or submission, because my gift doesn't point to me but to the one who has given it to me." (75)
'Because of the public nature of your gifts, you will suffer dangerous adulation and harsh criticism." (76)
"A leadership community that humbly recognizes the limits of God-given gifts will establish a ministry culture of respectful appreciation, and joyful cooperation." (77)
"As a leader, you simply cannot ignore the limits placed on you by this plan and maintain spiritual and relational health and a life of long-term ministry effectiveness." (77)
"When you unwittingly deny God-given limits of time, you assign more ministry work than a leader can do without shrinking the amount of time he can invest in other vital and unavoidable areas of calling and responsibility." (79)
"So more ministry means the leader spends less than the needed time investing in his marriage, parenting his children, fellowshipping with his church family, and serving his neighbors." (79)
"We have to resist a "try harder, do more" leadership culture that results in unrealistic expectations, achievement idolatry, and a whole basket of bad fruit." (79)
"Physical health must be part of the conversation and the shared responsibility of every member of the leadership community." (81)
"In order to finish the race and not be disqualified, we all must say no to passions of the body so that we can run the ministry or leadership race we have been called to run. Bringing our body under subjection doesn't begin with diet and exercise, but with searching for and confessing idols of the heart that interfere with the discipline to which we have been called and which grace makes possible. YOu see, the stewardship of our physical body is not an addition to our gospel ministry; it is a significant part of it." (81)
"Perhaps many of us are tired all the time not because of the rigorous demands of ministry but because of the lack of rigorous physical exercise in our normal routine. It is my love for my Savior and his gospel that causes me to eat with discipline. It is my love for the gospel that makes me get up and go to the gym or get on my road bike morning after morning." (82)
"No matter how long we've been in ministry leadership, no matter how well trained, no matter theologically mature, we are all still in need of future spiritual development." (83)
"Every leader needs to be the object of ongoing discipleship, every leader needs at moments to be confronted, every leader needs the comforts of the gospel, every leader needs help to see what he would not see on his own, and every leader needs to be granted the love and encouragement to deal with the artifacts of the old self that are still within him." (84)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 2 - Gospel - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
Lord, the one who saves,
Use me as a tool of grace in people's lives. And as you do that, help me see the importance others play in my life and spiritual growth.
I pray that the ministry you have for me and my family would challenge me and stretch me. Remind me that ministry is not about my comfort and predictability. In these challenges, I will be weak and needy. Help me embrace my weakness and your strength, God. I also pray that Trinity and the ministry we will go to will embrace their weakness and your strength. Lord, use me to help them grow.
Lord, I desire to help a church look at its leadership, mission, community, and methodology in light of the life-changing truth of the gospel. This will not happen perfectly but every church needs to get better at doing/living/working with the Gospel at the forefront. May the church that we are at grow in confidence in the Gospel and a commitment to one another.
God, may the church we are a part of be a place where leaders and members can confess their sin to you and one another and then continue to grow in their personal holiness.
May I and other leaders show a maturity that goes beyond worldly understanding and humility, points to Jesus and leads to gospel productivity and long-term spiritual health.
As the gospel makes us into the individuals and the community you want us to be. Grow in us patience and a willingness to wait on you.
You alone are worthy and deserving of all the glory. God, as we continue this ministry search, I pray that you would help Trinity Baptist Church, the church we are currently attending, and the church we will go to grow in the gospel.
Amen.
If you have given yourself to building people, you have accepted the call to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Leadership in the church is not comfortable and predictable. It's not a safe place to look for your identity and inner security. (53)
There should be no more powerful influence on leadership formation, community, and methodology than the Gospel of God's grace. (54)
Gatherings are not just for the purpose of financial, missional, and strategic planning but to nurture gospel confidence and commitment to one another. (56)
Fear of looking weak and needy will rob us of the help we need for spiritual health. (57)
If we are afraid to confess sin before what should be the most spiritual mature community in the church, we are sadly living in a state of functional gospel amnesia, no matter how robust our theological grasp of the gospel is. (58)
The long term health and gospel productivity of a church or ministry leadership community are directly related to the humility of the members of the community. (59)
Leader pride produces personality cults, while leader humility stimulates the worship of God. (60)
Willingness to wait with patient hearts is a clear sign that your leadership community has been and is being shaped by the gospel. (62)
Gospel encouragement is a defense against the ever-present danger of the pride in accomplishment because it puts credit where credit is due, at the feel of the Savior. (62)
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 1 - Achievement - of Paul Tripp's Lead:12 Gospel Principles for Leadership In the Church
The following prayer was written using quotes from chapter 1 of Lead, Psalm 23, and James 4.
Lord, God, the great good shepherd who makes his sheep lie in green pastures, who restores his sheeps' souls, as I continue this pastoral ministry search, I thank you for the reminder that I have no ability on my own to pastor a local body of believers.
I am not sovereign. I cannot change people's hearts. I often get in the way of what you are doing. I cannot predict the future.
You are sovereign. You change hearts. Your ways do not change. You do not predict the future you are in control.
God, you know my heart, help me desire Gospel growth of your people not the building of church stuff.
If it is your will, guide me to a ministry in which I can work hard, be disciplined, plan well, and be joyful while knowing none of these things guarantee results. Help me also remember that the lack of desired results does not define failure.
Wherever I am God, as pastor of a church, a warehouse worker serving as a lay elder, or anywhere else, I pray that my ministry passions and energies would be focused on doing everything I can to help people you have put in my life grow a deeper love for and service to Jesus. I want to be a disciple who makes disciples.
It is my prayer that the church that my family and I are a part of would not be marked by prayerlessness. May what you have done, are doing, and will do excite us more than what we are doing and plan to do.
Lord, I don't know where we will be, how long we will be there, or what we will do. I don't know what tomorrow will bring. If you, Lord, will, I will pastor a church. If you, Lord, will, I will not pastor a church. I pray that wherever we are, however long we are there, and whatever we are doing, we will glorify you!
I am thankful for the opportunities you give us to glorify you at Trinity Baptist Church, Northpointe Christian School, In On Time Logistics, and in our neighborhood.
Amen.
Quotes from the book:
Because we are not sovereign over the situation in which we minister, Because we have no power to change people's heart, Because we are often in the way of instead of being part of what God is doing, Because we cannot predict the future, We have no ability on our own to achieve ministry growth or success. (39)
If hard, disciplined, faithful, well-planned, appropriately executed, and joyful ministry work does not guarantee results, then the lack of desired results should not define leadership failure. (40)
Failure is not first a matter of results; failure is always a matter of the heart. Ministry laziness and unfaithfulness are failures. (40)
Here is the danger: in local church ministry it is much, much easier to build church stuff than it is to build people. (42)
Our ministry passion and energies should be focused on doing everything we can to lead the people entrusted into our care into a deeper love for and service to Jesus so that everything we do serves this disciple-making purpose. (43)
Fruit in ministry is the result not of our wise planning and diligent execution but of the loving operation of God's rescuing and transforming grace. (48)
Prayerlessness in a leadership community is always a result of putting credit where it is not due. Your leadership community is in trouble if your leaders are more excited about a strategic planning meeting than a prayer meeting. (48)
